Flight Lessons

Took the day off and planed to hit the Charlotte course as a preride to see what type of trails the Sunday race was going to be like. After waiting around till 10:00AM to check the trail conditions online at http://www.usnwc.org/Trail-System.html was only disapointed to find they were still posting closed. Not sure how this weekend is going to be since there showing chance of rain for both Saturday and Sunday and there is no mention of racing in rain or shine at the catawba site. Guess I'll be keeping an eye on the usnwc site and hoping the weather holds out.
Well heck, went and took a vacation day just for this and aw be darn if this was going to ruin a planned ride but I had the yearning to tread new trails and didnt wanted something different than the familiar harbison so decided to use this as an exuse to go try out FATS.

Ok, Im syched now, after the hour ride thinking about treading new trails, got to trailhead around noon, woofed down a hammer bar and I was ready to roll. Not sure what to expect and by myself I packed heavy and carried an xtra tube (think Monty mentioned a pinch flat there so wasnt going to take any chances). Headed out and thought I'd try the Deep Step trail first since it showed to be the only one off the beaten path. WOW, freakin AWESOME, I was taking flight and getting air all over the place and not even trying. Heart and anxioty is in full gear now and Im grinning like a kid in a candy store, this is so sweet. Was wishin some of the other guys would of been around just to let out a little exuberant yells or something. Well ok, I couldnt hold it back and had to start letting out some brew ha's on several airborne ever so sweet landings. This place rocks. I can see how you could get yourself in trouble around here, even though this is by far the smoothest flowy course Ive riden just when your going airborne, up , down right and left there are a few places that come up on you before you know it and I had to lock up brakes a few times to avoid a wipe out or worse the local wildlife. Whats up with them turtles, I must of almost nailed 4 of them? These are some pretty big ones and the suckers would be right in the middle of the main trail. Couldnt tell if they were coming out from their nights sleep, laying eggs or just plain releiving themselves. Ya, tellin ya, It would be wet from where they were trying to crawl away from, craziest thing I have had to deal with on the trail.
Anyway, after Deep Step rode Great Wall, Skinny Loop then Brown Wave. Kudos to whomever designed these trails they sure knew what they were doing. Its a hard choice if I had to pick one trail above the rest but think that Deep Step and Brown Wave made me feel like I was flowing the best.
This was a whole different kind of riding experience for me that I think I could learn alot about being smoother and working with the bike if that makes sense. Anyway, hope to start hitthing these trails more often.